The joy of award travel!

Boston Intercontinental Club Room

Date : 14 to 16 November 2015

Price : SGD $1,040 (inclusive of tax)

Type of room : Club Floor

Inclusive : Breakfast and Evening Cocktail

I booked Boston Intercontinental as part of my Expedia Citibank mile earning run (at 6 mile/$, this is one of the best mile earning promotion in Singapore). This was my most expensive hotel stay (per night) as I booked myself in the Club Intercontinental room. I was initially contemplating between booking directly through IHG (which would earn me 2 miles/USD + 2 miles/SGD for foreign currency spent) vs. Expedia (at 6 miles/$) vs. Kaligo (at 10 miles/$). Despite an attractive 10 miles/$, Kaligo’s price is way more expensive than Expedia’s (and they had no option for Club Room). Price between Expedia and IHG was about similar and miles earned would have been about 6300 miles (for Expedia) vs. 3600 miles (for IHG). In the end I decided to make use of the Expedia promotion.

Boston Intercontinental is located along Atlantic Avenue (near Boston Harbour). It took us about 20 minutes from Logan International Airport (and cost us about $28 excluding tips). The hotel is big and the lobby looks grand with their marble finishing. We did our check in at level 1 and everything was done in just 5 minutes. As IHG member, we had free Wi-Fi as well (which was pretty fast).

Nice fireplace in the lobby

We were given a room at Level 12 (club floor) facing the river. The room is very spacious at 400+ sq feet. The bath room is equally spacious with a separate shower cubicle from bath tub. The bathroom had a window that looks out into the room (which can be closed). Facilities in the room include:

Very large screen (easily 55”) LCD TV

A bedside sound system that can connect to your smart phone (with lightning adapter and USB port)

A working desk with LAN port and AC adapter

A sofa

Wardrobe with a safe box

Large comfortable king sized bed

Window connecting the room and the bathroom

Workdesk

View of the TV from the bed

Sofa and work desk

Large TV

The bathroom also came well equipped with toiletries and there were bathrobes provided as well.

The Club Intercontinental Lounge is also located on the 12th floor and access requires your room key card. The lounge is quite spacious and it was a little crowded when we went at 5:30 pm for our evening cocktail. The lounge has 2 sections, the dining section and the lounging section. The dining section has dining tables and the food buffet section while the lounging section has sofa with an electronic fireplace. Evening cocktail selection was good with both hot and cold items. It has a wide selection of teas, a coffee machine, fridge loaded with beverages and of course alcoholic beverages.

We had our breakfast in the club lounge as well (part of the club benefits). Again, there was good selection of both hot and cold items (including generous supply of smoked salmon). The usual beverages were still available but on weekends, there is an egg station with a chef who can make your eggs to order.

There is a PC in the lounge with complimentary access and it also came with free printing (via a connected colour laser printer).

Evening cocktail selection

Cold item available for evening cocktail

Breakfast selection

Breakfast

Large selection of tea with a coffee machine

Dining area

Lounge area

Fireplace in lounge

View from the lounge

The hotel location may be a bit out from the city centre, but it is within walking distance. There is a metro station about 200 – 300 metres away from the hotel. It is just next to the river (with a water taxi stop) and within walking distance to Boston Tea Party. The room provides a very good view of the waterfront. One can walk to the theatre district or Chinatown easily (about 15 minutes of leisure walk). There are some nearby eateries but one can have more choices in the downtown area. Further up Atlantic Avenue, you can visit the New England Aquarium and also one can join the Duck tours from there (only on weekends). Slightly further from the Aquarium will be the Faneuil Marketplace (for more great food).

As we had spent only 2 nights there, we did not have the opportunity to explore the pool or the gym.

Boston Intercontinental is definitely a hotel that I will return to if I travel to Boston again. One should opt for the Club Room for its benefits. The hotel is on the pricier side (about SGD $1040 for 2 nights inclusive of state tax) but it is well worth the money. I have tried Boston Four Seasons (which cost easily $200-300 more per night without club benefits) and I can say that Boston Intercontinental is a better choice. Location of the hotel however, is a little off from the City centre.